Rangers' Darroll Powe out with concussion

Rangers penalty kill ace Darroll Powe, getting attention from Arron Ashman and head trainer Jim Ramsay after colliding with the Capitals' Matt Hendricks on Sunday, was placed on IR.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – The Rangers' penalty kill has been really good – perfect, actually – as of late. Now it has to do so without top penalty killer and shot blocker Darroll Powe.

The team announced Monday Powe had been placed on injured reserve after suffering a concussion in a second-period collision with the Capitals' Matt Hendricks during the Rangers' 2-1 win Sunday night. There's no timetable for Powe's return but he'll remain on injured reserve for at least seven days.

"Obviously, you never like to see that," said defenseman Marc Staal, who missed the first 36 games last season while recovering from a concussion. "You hope the player treats it the way it should be treated. That's the biggest thing, when a guy goes down that he doesn't come back too early. That's when you get hurt."

The Rangers recalled 6-foot-3, 220-pound Brandon Mashinter, 24, from Connecticut (AHL) and either he or rookie Chris Kreider, a healthy scratch the past two games, will be in the lineup tonight against the Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.

"I missed him right away on the bench," coach John Tortorella said of Powe, acquired from the Wild for Mike Rupp on Feb. 4. "Especially protecting a lead and killing penalties. He's been a really good penalty killer. He doesn't have the stats. But it's not always about the stats. He's done a lot of good things in his role."

Since Powe's acquisition, the Rangers have killed off all but one of their opponents' 20 power-plays. That includes all 16 over their past five games and 18 straight, overall. That's pushed the Rangers' penalty kill to ninth in the NHL after the Rangers had allowed eight power-play goals in 37 chances over their first eight games.

A good portion of the Rangers' turnaround can be attributed to Powe's presence, which allowed Tortorella to form fairly consistent forward pairs on the penalty kill. Mainly, Powe would be on the ice with faceoff/penalty kill specialist Jeff Halpern while captain Ryan Callahan was paired with Derek Stepan.

But the Rangers' penalty kill has also improved by being more aggressive and creating short-handed chances. The Rangers had three short-handed shots against the Capitals.

The other part is just familiarity as the season has progressed. The penalty kill has gone through a drastic overhaul from last season due to the departures of Brandon Prust, Brandon Dubinsky, John Mitchell and Ruslan Fedotenko.

"Yeah, I think our aggressiveness is back, or arrogance," Staal said. "We've got it to where guys are more comfortable playing with each other. It's becoming more automatic for us."

The final part is having Henrik Lundqvist again playing at his Vezina Trophy-winning level from last season.

"It definitely feels a lot better and I think the biggest lift for our penalty kill is how well Hank is playing in net," said Halpern, adding having set forward pairs was also beneficial. "You talk on the bench about different situations and you see the same plays over with the same guys. After time, you develop chemistry with everyone but I've always liked going with one guy."

Halpern said beyond Powe's shot-blocking ability, he would be missed in the faceoff circle. Halpern is a right-handed shot and Powe shoots from the left, meaning they could split the faceoffs based on the side of the ice.

BRIEF: The Rangers announced they had agreed to a new deal with minor-league goalie Cam Talbot, 25, who is 19-19-1 with a 2.52 goals-against average this season for Connecticut (AHL) and was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Alabama-Huntsville in 2010.